Let me
by knownangel
Summary: What if someone got to Sasuke before he was allowed to completely lose himself in revenge? Or someone's' for a matter of fact. Fem!naruXSasu. Probably a couple of OOC characters too...
1. Chapter 1

I blame the plot bunny. It just wouldn't die no matter how many times I shot it, drowned it and dismembered it among many other things. The annoying long eared thing just kept coming back. So here is the result of the rabid rabbit wreaking havoc on my brain. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own anything that can correspond to being a professional mangaka. So it's pretty safe to say I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Sasuke flinched slightly at the sound of fangirls fighting for him in the background. Sure, he should've been use to them by now seeing as they existed prior to his clans…demise, but this was just ridiculous. It seemed that now he was the last loyal Uchiha, his little clique had grown in size, age range and ferocity. But he would deal with it, just like before, by ignoring them.

"Mah~ will those idiots ever shut up?" said a familiar voice from his left, "Isn't it obvious that no matter how much they fight nothing will come of it?"

Click

"Yeah right, I honestly don't get why they are so into him in the first place." replied a second equally familiar voice.

Click

"True, nevertheless, I thought they would have more commonsense then that."

Click

"You know fangirls," the replier scoffed, "Absolutely nothing in their heads except for their desire and things related to that desire."

Click

"You are correct for once." Click, "And I believe that's my win"

"NO!" screamed the blond dramatically, "Not again!"

The avenger glanced at two of the three females in his class that weren't part of his fanclub, curious at what they had been doing. Studying the shogi board between the two, Sasuke couldn't help but be impressed by the placing of some of the pieces.

His gaze flicking towards the players themselves he took a moment to reacquaint himself with them. On one side was the black haired Tsukikage Kurai, with amber coloured eyes, bronze skin and one heck of a nasty grin when provoked, she was one of class's most terrifying people when she felt like it. It probably didn't help that she also appeared to be a sadist at heart, enjoying people's pain and humiliation, although only when they deserved it strangely enough. Dressed in a black battle kimono embroidered with red designs, knee length leggings and standard shinobi sandals, the girl was a rather intimidating figure and definitely one heck of a kunoichi.

"I will win next time dattebayo!"

On the other hand, her friend was quiet the opposite. Loud, carefree and an absolute klutz at the worst of times, Uzumaki Naruko had her own brand of annoyingness ready to be bottled and sold. Long blond hair tied into twin pigtails, sparkling cerulean eyes and three matching whisker like marks on each cheek, the other girl wasn't exactly the most subtle of all ninja. The fact she wore florescent orange didn't help either. Yet despite the fact she was dressed in the colours that literally screamed 'Look here, I'm a target! Kill me!' the girl managed to pull off some impressive pranks without being caught until much, much, much later.

"Yare, yare, not my fault you focused so much on that general that you forgot about protecting your king."

Privately, and buried deep, deep, deep, DEEP down, the boy admired the two. It wasn't a secret neither of them had parents, yet the two seemed to thrive. Tsukikage was the top kunoichi of the year, her practical and theoretical skills far above the rest as seen in her test results throughout the year. Her results and abilities were even better than the Hyuuga's and the Yamanaka's, both who he knew to be from shinobi families. Uzumaki, although dubbed the classes dead last, had amazing chakra reserves and cheerfulness that enabled her to keep going even if things seemed impossible for her.

Yes, he definitely respected the two. They were also goals to surpass if he was going to kill THAT man.

* * *

Finally it was the end of the day, and the last Uchiha loyal to Konoha Village was slowly meandering his way home, not really wanting to get there.

_Memories of blood splashed against the wall and of that man killing his father in front of him-no he had to stop thinking about them…_

But he got there eventually, steeling himself for another lonely night full of haunting memories. Only to be surprised by the fact someone was already there. Someone's' to be specific.

"Damn your slow teme!"

He stared impassively at the two females who were stalling front of his house – one leaning against the wall reading, the other arms akimbo glaring at him – waiting for _him_ of all things, as he floundered internally with shock.

"What are you two doing here?" he demanded, an annoyed scowl on his face.

Glancing up from her book, Kurai returned his look with one of her own.

"Waiting for you to turn up." She said bluntly as she stood up straight and put her book away, "What else would we be here for?"

Scowl deepening he shot back, "And why would you do that?" As far as he knew, there were no advantages for them to do so. It was unlikely there was anything he had that they wanted and they couldn't possibly have anything that he wanted.

"We thought you could do with a decent meal."

Sasuke's mind, who was rapidly generating reasons why the two would be here, grated to a stop.

"Huh?" was his intelligent reply.

Surprisingly, it was Naruko who replied, "Anyone with two brain cells to rub together can see that you're not eating properly. You're pale – more than usual anyway – and your concentration wanders. Not to mention your punches don't hurt as much as they use to either."

"Let's add the fact that you don't eat lunch all that often and when you do, its store bought." added Kurai calmly, "So our conclusion was you just weren't eating properly or you don't know how to cook, since if you did, you wouldn't be so badly affected."

His frown still evident on his face, the Uchiha considered his options. To say he wasn't annoyed that someone had noticed that he wasn't eating all that well was an understatement. But nothing ever came for free.

Eyeing to two carefully as he considered his options, the boy finally asked, "What's in it for you two?"

"Apart from extra chances to hone our cooking skills? Not much, I mean, is it really that mind boggling that people can do things out of the goodness of their hearts?"

Apparently it was as Sasuke pretty much just stared at them. Eventually, Naruko getting fed up with the silence exclaimed, "If you must pay us back help us out by sparring with us occasionally, fighting Kurai all the time does get boring until one of us learns a new trick. Then it gets boring again."

Finally agreeing - albeit somewhat reluctantly on his part - it was decided that in exchange for learning how to cook, he would find time to spar with the two girls at least once a week and not let anyone know that they were doing so.

"Fine then, when do we start?"

Feeling a shiver of fear run down his spine at the girls rather evil looks, the Uchiha could only sigh when they pulled out shopping bags from seemingly nowhere with a grin and a cheerfully shouted "Now!"

* * *

It was strange to admit but, somewhere along the way, the two girls who had forcefully intruded his home had wormed themselves into his heart, becoming Naru-chan and Kauri instead of Uzumaki and Tsukikage.

Kauri was the level headed one, sarcastic with a gilded tongue that allowed her to persuade anyone to do practically anything and surprisingly gifted in all sorts of artistic forms. While he would argue that HE was the more responsible one, she was the one that ensured that none of them got themselves killed in a spar by patching them all up with various medical jutsu she had many to learn from medics and that they did everything they were suppose to. And that they didn't get caught when they did something they weren't supposed to depending on the circumstances. In someway, she had become his surrogate older sister, and once when Sasuke had let it slip, she had simply smiled and replied that what he said better be true since she was going to look like that one day. Brushing the comment off as her being strange again, he had turned back to try and find Naru only to be hit in the face by one of the girl's traps. He had also discovered the girl was very much a tomboy, a rather crass one too, only wearing feminine battle yukatas because she could hide so many things in the sleeves and no-one would be any wiser.

Naru was quiet simply, a ball of boundless energy. He had soon discovered in their spars that Naru was anything BUT the dead last. With insane flexibility, the boy had trouble guessing where she was going to strike next; in fact, he had activated his sharingan in one of their spars because she had pretty much attacked him without restraint. Not to mention her stealth and trap skills were way above what was needed in the academy. When she had seen his look of shock the first time he had been caught in her traps she smirked – his heart skipped a beat at that – and said "How else do you think I prank ANBU headquarters?" Although the clear animosity the girl received from the villagers confused him and when asked, Naru would brush it off as something that happened although she wasn't sure what. But he did link the fact she performed badly in academy to it, which also happened to be linked to some ulterior plan that the two had concocted. It also helped that the real Naru wasn't actually as loud as the mask she put up in the academy, although the fact that they were rival's remained.

Either way, the girls were here to stay, and suddenly, he wasn't sure what he would've become if they didn't decide to stick their noses into his life.

_Although the words given to him by that man lingered, and part of him wondered was letting them remain a good thing._

* * *

It wasn't until the first celebration of the Kyuubi's defeat after the three had become friends that Sasuke saw exactly how close they had become.

There was no academy that day so he was at home doing a bit of cleaning – something the girls had instilled in him after seeing the almost pigsty of his room – when Kurai came rushing in.

"Have you seen Naruko?" she demanded and at his negative reply, she had actually growled, a low feral sound that was more likely to come from Naru or the Inuzuka in their class.

"Quit cleaning and look for her," was the next order, "She's in trouble."

So not really wanting to be on the receiving end of her anger, Sasuke had dropped his work before beginning his search of the village. What he found in the end had horrified and angered him to no end.

The Kyuubi festival was getting into full swing, colourful yukatas and kimonos everywhere, stall owners' loudly calling to attract customers, the place was just short of pandemonium.

He unfortunately had run into Ino and Sakura, who had grabbed him by either arm and proceeded to play human tug-a-war with him while he had frantically tried to find an excuse to escape as well as scouring the crowd for the familiar blonde shock of hair.

"Oi, what you on a date for," was suddenly snarled into his ear before he was whisked away by Karui.

"Dunno what you were doing, but I found her," was the next sentence, "I'm gonna need your help to get her out of this."

Slightly confused, the boy simply followed her to a deserted alley way, to be met with the sight of Naru being pummelled by a mob of men made up of villages and ninja's of all ranks yelling "Die you god damned Fox!" and "Kill the demon!"

"We can't handle this." Was all that he could say, because really, no matter how good they were, they were academy students and there was a freaking jounin in that mob.

"I know." Was her terse reply, "I just want to keep an eye on them, make sure she doesn't get moved to somewhere else, and follow them if she does. I'm gonna get a couple of ANBU to help out, but it's going to take time to get there."

And with that she was gone, his protest on his lips. Instead he opted for gritting his teeth and watching the group, no matter how grisly it was. After what seemed to be hours – it was only minutes, he knew that – the almost familiar white masks of ANBU appeared Kurai grimfaced among them. Joining her in the alley, he watched as the group was carted off and the girl rushed forwards to her friend, hands immediately aglow with healing chakra as she assessed and began healing the worst of it.

"You'll need to find another place to heal her properly," said one of the remaining ANBU, a man with white gravity defying hair and a dog mask, "Take her to the hospital."

"Fuck no," was snarled, "I ain't letting those goddamn bastards getting their mangy paws on her again. Her apartments no good and they know where mine is"

"Ah yes, that incident."

Sasuke looked at the two, curious about what had happened – he never really paid much attention to his classmates before, and even now only knew what had transpired in their lives after they had barged into his life – but knowing it wasn't the time.

Biting his inner cheek as he thought of a solution, he hesitantly offered "We can take her to my place, there's room and no-one will bother us."

Feeling eyes snapping around to gaze at him, he could practically see the thought process of the ANBU and Kurai as they considered his offer.

"That's a good idea," his friend said softly, he could hear the layers and layers of thankfulness in her voice "they wouldn't think we would be in the Uchiha compound."

Nodding sharply, the girl ran her hands over the blond once more and stepped back to allow the dog ANBU to pick up Naru's prone figure.

"She's stable enough for Shunshin." She added, "See you there."

In response she received a sharp nod before the man formed a one handed hand seal and promptly disappeared. Turning her gaze onto Sasuke, he was overwhelmed by the turbulent emotion in Kurai's eyes.

"We'll discuss this later, grab my arm."

So he did before feeling a moment of vertigo and seeing his living room with a waiting ANBU blur into place.

Wordlessly leading them to an empty room – a guest room even before that fateful day – opening the door for the group and he watched as Naru was placed on the bed, Kurai immediately going to her side, hands once again lit with the green glow of healing chakra. Knowing that there wasn't much he could do, the boy turned to go to the kitchen. He could at least make a cup of tea for Kurai as she worked.

"You know, I was surprised to see you there."

Whipping around, a kunai in hand, the avenger blinked at the sight of the dog ANBU behind him before putting the weapon away with a scowl. How could he have forgotten that the man was still there?

"It's none of your business." He snapped.

Water on stove to boil, three scoops of tea leaves in to the teapot, teacups set on the tray.

"I didn't think you would make friends with those two." was the amused drawl, "They are rather private. I suppose they saw something about you that they liked."

"Well whoop de doo," hmm, it seemed that Kurai's sarcasm was rubbing off on him, "That doesn't matter, I'm surprised that you're willing to help after they pretty much ransacked your headquarters."

It was only the day before the two had decided to pull an all out prank on the ANBU out of boredom. He had gone with them before and had seen the dart boards there with their barely recognisable picture pinned to them. All it made the girls do though was grin and put up new ones.

"The pranks are harmless, a couple of days of irritation at most," the ANBU operative answered flippantly, "No-one in ANBU really hates the two, in fact most sympathize with them, hence why so many of us help them out when we can."

Huffing in reply, Sasuke lifted the pot of boiling water and added it to the teapot. Next was steeping it for three minutes.

Finally, Sasuke cracked, "I don't understand, why do they hate Naru so much? What has she done? Surely nothing more than a few pranks?"

The mask of a stylised dog stared at him, evaluating him.

"I cannot say. Asked the girls, they may choose to tell you. Especially Naru, it is her secret after all."

A moment longer, the ANBU bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement and disappeared, presumably to go back to work. Sighing, Sasuke simply poured the tea before carrying it to the room. It seemed the girls were staying over night.

* * *

And that's a wrap! I wanted to write more but I wasn't sure if my fact were right, so instead, I'll finish here and just add another instalment for those who want it. And I know, Sasuke is kinda OOC here, but hey, I'm writing pretty much just after the Uchiha Massacre and he hasn't really had the chance to be all emo-y cause the girl's haven't given him a chance to do so. I mean, you wouldn't either if you had a Naruto hounding after you determined to be your friend right? Right? *looks at audience nervously* ok, maybe not, but still, I have to admit Fem!Naru is cute, so it'll be fun developing their characters later on, although it will be pretty close to the canon characters, can't change them too much after all. Kurai who's an OC will be fun too!

Well, there is a button at the bottom of this page that says 'review' and it will be much, much, much appreciated if you do click it thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to all those who read Let Me and enjoyed it. I know I'm not exactly the best writer out there but the warm fuzzies from people who did like it are much appreciated. And as I promised, here is the next installment. *bows*

Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I'm not rich, I don't spend large amounts of time drawing manga, nor is my name Mishashi Kishimoto. Thus I cannot be the owner of Naruto.

* * *

In the end, Naru and Kurai ended up staying several days. Not because of difficulties in Naru's recovery, but simply because they could.

Bloody women.

Although he probably could've done without the surprise visit from the Hokage.

It was the day after the Kyuubi festival, Naru having completely recovered over night - proving Kurai's excellent chakra control and healing abilities as well as her larger than the normal academy student's chakra reserves - was demanding him to prove that he had learnt how to cook by making them breakfast.

_He could still see the hurt and sadness hidden underneath the loud cheer that she was projecting. Why was she hiding it? Why did villages hurt her in the first place? Why did they hate her so much?_

Kurai was being her ever sarcastic self, although the dark bags under her eyes and the fact she had raided his kitchen for coffee the first thing in the morning gave more away than the melancholy air she hid underneath the biting remarks. Kurai never drank coffee straight.

Figuring that whatever had happened last night would be explained later, Sasuke simply replied to the blonde's words with his usual half insulting, half complementary jabs, complying with her request to make breakfast any way. Partly as a way to make Naru feel better after last night, partly because he did not want a half-asleep Kurai anywhere near the stove. He didn't care how good she was doing things while half awake, but sue him for not wanting to avoid paying any repair costs because of her not quiet awake unawareness.

Having made a simple breakfast of eggs, toast and bacon, the three settled down to eat when there was a knock on the door. Disgruntled and annoyed, the boy went to get it - after all, he was the host of the house - and after opening it, was greeted by the sight of the Hokage and several ANBU.

"Hokage-ji!" came an excited shout and there was a blur of orange and blond that zoomed past him and tackled the Hokage in a hug.

"Mah~ I thought you had forgotten again old man." greeted Kurai as she also padded to the entrance.

The Uchiha was surprised at their informality to the leader of their village, and was even more surprised when the old man just chuckled along with his ANBU guard.

"I'm not going to forget again after what had happened last time I forgot, my paper work actually tripled because of your little prank."

"I simply reminded you what day it was, the other ninja were the ones who blew it out of proportions." was the mild reply

Looking at the dark haired girl's smirk, the boy asked carefully, "Do I even want to know?"

The looks of dark amusement from everyone else said it all.

Remembering that they were still standing outside, Sasuke invited everyone in, mentally groaning at the cleaning the girls were sure to put him through later.

"May I ask for the nature of this visit?"

Naru blinked owlishly at him while the Hokage gave Kurai a look.

"You haven't told him?"

The kunoichi just shrugged and replied, "We don't exactly broadcast our birthdays, Naru's especially seeing as people hate her enough already."

The boy gave them a rather injured look - as hurt as his Uchiha pride would let him anyway - before asking "It's Naruko's birthday?"

The response from the blond haired girl was oddly minor, "Actually it was my birthday yesterday, but due to connotations that it gives to some of the villagers, I generally don't go telling people left, right and centre." she said before launching herself at the ANBU gibbering away while pleading for her presents.

Glancing at the other female for further explanation, she sighed and began to explain while the blond practically clawed her way all over the visitors for presents they had brought for her.

"As you know the Kyuubi was defeated on October the tenth nine, no, ten years ago now. Naruko turned ten yesterday." was all she said, her face a completely blank facade.

Confused by the information, Sasuke frowned as he considered her words. What was the link between the two facts? Suddenly it hit him, further enforcing the fact that the villagers were idiots for him.

"Are you saying that because Naruko was born on the same day as the Kyuubi was defeated that she is the Kyuubi?" he asked incredulously.

"Yup, something along the lines of that." something dark flashed through her eyes, sending a shiver down his spin. For a moment a second image overlay the original, one of a demonic form with inhuman yellow eyes.

"Either way, we celebrate her birthday a day afterwards seeing as the old man is busy on the actual day. Seeing we basically are friends with the ANBU, they generally pop by and drop off presents." she added nodding to the now growing pile of cheerfully wrapped parcels at the foot of the table as they were unsealed from sealing scrolls. As a particularly large parcel was gifted to Naru, Kurai paled.

"Oi old man that better not be what I think it is."

The old man smiled innocently, "Well, you'll just have to wait and find out wouldn't you?" was his reply before producing a more mundanely wrapped parcel from under his robes. "And this is for you. Serpent was rather adamant that you get it as soon as possible."

Quirking a brow she accepted it, hefting it several times to check the weight. Still unsure as to what it contained, Kurai began unwrapping the gift, and when the gleam is a blade peeked through she smiled.

"What is that?"

"A kyoketsu-shoge" she replied a satisfied smile on her face as she freed the rest of it from the confines, "It is considered as the predecessor of a kusarigama although I like to think of it as the better version. I outgrew my last one and while Tenten's father can make adequate ones, the quality of the ones Serpent's favorite blacksmith makes are somewhat better, might have something to do with demand."

The weapon resembled a dagger with a long weighted chain attached and Sasuke had no doubt that Kurai could wield the weapon to a deadly degree.

"Naruko! Heads up!" was the only warning the other girl got before with a flick of her wrist the dark haired girl sent the blade hurtling towards the blonde. Jumping out of the way with a piece of toast hanging from her mouth and arms around a half unwrapped present, Naru scowled at her friend.

"Hey! You could have destroyed my present!" shouted the girl after shoving the rest of the bread into her mouth.

"Oh please," was the drawled reply, "like it could have. That's a new set of kunai, I can hear them clinking from here."

"Why you...!" was all the foxy girl could say before ripping the rest of the wrapping off the present and grabbing the kunai within, "I'll get you for that!"

The boy could only sigh as the two launched themselves at each other, thankfully keeping it small until they exited his home via window and got serious once outside. At least they had learnt their lesson about fighting indoors, paying for repairs were a pain. That was until he spotted the gash on the floor from Kurai's initial attack. Temple pulsing, the last loyal Uchiha threw himself out the window as well, unwittingly teaming up with his blonde friend against the assault against Kurai.

"You Bitch! You made another hole in the floor!"

From within, sipping a cup of tea, the Hokage and his guard watched the battle unfold as the dark haired girl tried to defend herself from her friends with amusement.

* * *

After that episode had past, life went on as usual. Naruko pulling pranks on the general populace, Kurai being better than any of the academy kunoichi by a large margin, Sasuke just beating Kurai be a tiny bit.

_He suspected that she threw the scores so that he would come out with the top scores. Why? He didn't know, but it did mean he was one step closer to his goal of killing that man._

Until one day, a new student was introduced to the class.

"Ok, this is Ayakashi Shigure everybody, be kind to him."

Instantly, the two girls he reluctantly called friends froze up, going from relaxed caution to high alert. Oddly enough, the new boy narrowed his eyes when his gaze swept over the pair.

_It could've been directed only at one of them, but seeing as they came as a pair majority of the time it was hard to tell._

The new boy was seated next to Kurai, who systematically ignored his presence, even as he attempted to be kind to her. The class proceeded without too much drama, but almost everyone could feel the sizzling tension underneath. Evidence was even Naruko and the Inuzuka actually remained quite and behaved in class which was normally full of disruptions of all sorts.

Finally lunch arrived, at which, Naru and Kurai promptly disappeared outside, Sasuke following them at a more sedate pace to give the illusion of them not being friends. Finding the two at their usual lunch spot - a grove of trees that was well hidden from the outside - he joined them with a questioning look.

"What was that about?"

"None of your business." the dark haired girl snapped, the tone of finality warning him not to push the matter. Shrugging it off as a personal matter that wasn't too major, he ate his lunch, listening to Naru as she carefully steered the conversation away from topics that could lead to potential explosion and calmed the obviously agitated girl.

Personally, he couldn't see what was wrong with the boy. He was open and polite, good at certain parts of the curriculum and bad with other parts, a fairly normal person with likes and dislikes, who could get along with majority of the class. Non-descript shaggy brown hair with matching brown eyes and an easy smile, he really couldn't see why she seem to hate him so much.

The next few days were similar, the underlying tension slowly building up as time passed. The only change was Kurai's scores had plummeted down to rock bottom. The way Naru skirted around subjects and the way she avoided antagonizing the irate girl was telling enough. Anyone who annoyed her in the slightest way immediately had their head chewed off, quickly, painfully and mercilessly.

The whole thing just stagnated, like pressure building up in a pressure cooker, waiting to explode.

About two weeks after Shigure's arrival, excrement finally hit the fan.

It started at lunch; the low buzz of conversation began as everyone brought out their lunches.

"Ne Shigure, would you like to join us for lunch" asked a Sasuke fangirl member who had seen error of her ways and promptly switched to the new boy instead.

"No! Join me!" cooed another one.

Eventually there was a crowd of females gathered around the boy as Sasuke looked on in pity.

"Fuck it."

Suddenly Kurai was standing on the boy's desk, one foot braced on the table, hands fisting his shirt as she yanked the boy up to face level.

"You will drop the fucking illusion and face me like a man you son of a bitch instead of sneaking around like a goddamned coward." She growled, eyes seeming to glow with a feral light.

The surrounding crowd gasped and immediately a hubbub arose as the class protested against her actions.

"It's alright," placated the boy, his gaze never leaving hers, "she's right you know."

Suddenly he pushed the girl, sending himself to the other side of the room where his image flickered and became a man of around 18. He looked similar to before, same features on an older body. But now furry ears peeked out beneath the hair as well as a swishing tail, lazily wagging behind him. Strangely enough, he wasn't dressed in a standard ninja outfit, instead was dressed in civilian clothes with a breastplate over the top.

A smug smirk on his face, the former classmate drawled condescendingly "My, you took much longer to respond than I had expected, although I do suspect you knew who I was from the moment I entered the class Ku-chan."

"Of course, as if the surname wasn't obvious enough, after all, no member of the _prestigious _Ayakashi clan would lower themselves to be a ninja" she spat in reply before delicately covering her nose, "You also happen to carry the perpetual smell of a dog drowned in sewerage."

"You wound me dear sister."

Heads swiveled around so quickly it was a surprise no one got whiplash.

Kurai's response was to laugh bitterly, "Dear sister? I haven't been that since I was five you bastard."

It was obvious that there was something between the two that none of the class knew about, although the bristling Naruko suggested that _she_ at least knew something about what was going on.

"I don't know why you're here but all I have to say is to stay out of my life. Which ever elder set you up to this can go die in a hole for all I care." She dismissed, "And don't bother pretending you care, I know for one you don't."

"Mah~ you think an elder sent me?" mocked the man, "Unfortunately for you, you're wrong."

Her body tensing was barely perceptible, but it was there.

"No, I'm here to finally cleanse the world of your filth," each word was sharp as a dagger, "I couldn't do anything before, but now I can finally do what I was fated to DO!"

Lunging for the girl at incredible speeds, the Uchiha briefly caught sight of out stretched claws before the two connected, sending them flying through the wall.

"KURAI!"

Gathering around the hole in the wall, majority of the academy students were stunned at the battle going on outside. Even though they had only been fighting for moments, the area was littered with destruction; broken branches, craters in the ground with sharp rocks littering the area. It looked more like one of the battle scenes from the second war than a fight between an academy student and someone who was most likely a higher ranked ninja. Who were seemingly on equal ground.

Flashes from Kurai's weapon and what were most likely attack jutsu's from her opponent as well as blurs of colors that were the two fighters was all that the students could see.

It seemed Shigure had landed a solid hit as suddenly the girl slammed into the wall next to the hole.

"Dammit!" she swore under her breath, clutching her ribs. The next moment Naruko was next to her, eyes wide with worry.

"I think I broke a couple of ribs," Kurai replied in a pained hiss.

"See little sister, you can never defeat me."

Instantly the girl glared at the man. Then to everyone's surprise Naruko growled at the man.

"What's the big idea beating her up? It's not like she asked for it to happen you crazy bastard!" she snarled as she moved in front of Kurai, ready to defend her friend.

"No Naruko, he isn't someone we can fight one on one with at our level." pleaded the injured girl, eyes wide with concern.

"How about two on one then?"

Sasuke stepped out onto the battle field as well, joining Naruko protectively in front of Kurai as Shigure narrowed his eyes at the new players.

"You two…" she murmured dazedly, trying to comprehend what was going on.

"Ne Kurai, your our friend aren't you?" asked the blonde cheerfully, adopting a battle stance, "Friends stick up for each other."

"And fight together." Added the boy as he took up his own stance, "So how long will it take to fix yourself up?"

Staring at the two for a moment longer, Kurai could no longer hold the thankful smile back.

"Moron," she replied condescendingly, slowly getting up, cuts and scrapes fading from sight and soon only her tattered clothes spoke of her fight from before, "I was healing myself the moment I hit that wall."

Picking her dropped weapon and tucking it away, the girl took her place among her friends, she grinned viciously.

"I may be low on chakra but I can still put up one heck of a fight!"

The man who called himself Kurai's brother watched them for a moment before raising a hand and flexing it, revealing that he indeed did have claws.

"Very well," he smirked nastily before charging towards them, "I'll just crush all three of you instead."

In response, Naruko and Sasuke sprung forwards, actions mirroring each other as they came from below.

"As if an attack like that could hit me." He gloated as he deflected the two children's blows.

"How about a three way attack?"

Suddenly the beast man found himself surrounded on three sides, each student bearing down on him with the intent to kill.

"GWAH!"

The attack hit, sending him reeling as pain flared.

Without pause, the three followed up with successive attacks, a flurry of movement as they wove around each other with perfect timing to deliver hits of varying degrees success.

Sasuke broke away, hands flashing through a familiar set of handseals as the two females dashed away leaving their enemy directly in the path of the technique

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

The fireball quickly enveloped the man, Kurai and Naru came to rest besides the boy.

"Did we get him?"

"Yeah, but I swear that resilience is a family trait, he isn't going to get knocked out of a fight that easily."

Smoke cleared as Kurai unraveled her kyoketsu-shoge again, while the other two prepared themselves to continue the fight.

"Heh, that tickled brat." Laughed the man as he was revealed, arms crossed in front of him to absorb the brunt of the impact, completely unharmed.

Sasuke clicked his tongue in annoyance, making plans to get the information out of Kurai later as he sprang forward alongside his blonde friend.

Dodging the swipe at them, Naruko latched onto an arm pulling the man off balance as the Uchiha aimed kick towards his chin.

Growling, 'Shigure' grabbed Sasuke's foot throwing him into a nearby tree with Naruko following soon after.

"Damn brats, think you two can take on a fully trained member of the Ayakashi clan?" he snarled towering over the two.

All of a sudden, the weighted end of Kurai's weapon wrapped around his neck, tightening before jerking the man backwards, dumping him unceremoniously onto his back.

"Honestly you keep forgetting that there is three of us." Sighed the girl as she idly twirled the blade on the other end of the chain.

Growling, the man threw himself at the girl closing his claws around her neck while everyone else stared on horrified that she didn't react. Instead she just stood there, a victorious gleam in her eye.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!"

"And that you're at the academy." She added mildly as if it was an afterthought in a discussion about the weather, "Did you really think that the teachers wouldn't come and investigate the fighting?"

Iruka-sensei stormed over, forcing the man to release the dark haired girl so he could escape.

Before he left though he saw the girl mouth something at him with a dark smirk.

"I'm free my dear o-nii-chan~."

* * *

HOLY CRAP THAT WAS LONG! I'm not a very good fight scene writer so hopefully this is somewhere between decent and good… Just a couple of translations and explanations that may or may no help:

kyoketsu-shoge: literally "to run about in the fields and mountains". But no, it's a weapon, in fact it is a blade attached to a chain or rope (Apparently it use to be hair…) with a handle or weight at one end for the wielder to hold. It can be used as a short range weapon by holding the blade or long range by holding the end of the chain and well…throwing it? I came across it while watching Ninja assassin, which I swear has some of the best fight scenes ever but no plot…and why is a Korean guy playing a Japanese character?

Kusarigama: literally "Sickle and chain". Those who have watched Inuyasha may have seen one being used by Sango's brother Kohaku. And it actually is a sickle and a chain…

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu: Fire release : Grand fireball technique. Sasuke's favorite jutsu, 'nough said.

Well hope that was helpful. A little more on Kurai's back ground coming up and a couple of other bits and pieces. And I fixed up a bunch of things in the first chapter so hopefully it's a better read now.

Oh! And clicking the button below will be much appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

Another chapter for Let Me! I was pleasantly surprised at the number of hits it got when I decided to check it the other day, just before I started the next chapter. Thank you to all those people who decided to read it. I figure there was a bit of confusion at the end of the last chapter but it will be all explained in this chapter, so hold onto your hats while we truly meet the OC character that is Tsukikage Kurai.

OH! And we finally get to the canon! I'll probably jump through the 'catch the mizuki traitor' bit though, I mean, everyone has at least read it 15 times so it bound to be rather…uh, worn out by now.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. End of story.

* * *

Sasuke scowled at the figure in the hospital bed. He was pretty sure that the person he was scowling at had something to do with the two sets of memories he had of the fight at the academy. And hell if it wasn't confusing.

"Oi teme, scowling at her won't wake her up faster."

Changing targets, the boy chose to scowl at the blonde sitting opposite him.

"It's all her fault." he muttered mutinously.

"I suppose it is."

Immediately the two academy students heads whipped around, one glowering at the now awake girl, the other with a relieved expression.

"I suppose you're after an explanation as well?" she asked as she sat up clutching her head, "oh my freaking god, I hate chakra exhaustion"

The borderline murderous glare said it all.

"Fine, I planted a suggestion in your mind," Kurai said with a pout, "so that your brain would be tricked into thinking what I said was the truth and you would kinda forget what really happened. Not erased or replaced, simply a suggestion that the real memory wasn't real."

_Flashback no jutsu!_

"Tsukikage Kurai, explain at once what is going on!" screamed an irate Iruka.

The girl's reply was to coil up her weapon and re-enter the classroom through the new hole in the wall.

"Tsukikage!"

The girl continued to ignore the teacher as she found the person she was looking for, "Shikamaru, did anyone who saw the fight leave?"

The Nara tilted his head up lazily to look her in the eye, "None, what do you ask troublesome girl?"

"You'll see" was the mild answer as Kurai clambered up onto the teacher's desk before calling for everyone's attention.

"Could everyone please pay attention to the flame here?" she called out with faux cheerfullness, a small flame dancing on the end of one finger. Everyone did as they were told, not knowing a small genjutsu had been used to encourage the action, eyes glazing over as they focused on the fire.

"There was a fight between me and Shigure who turned out to not be an actual student. No one is sure who the man was or what he was after but only that I could tell that there was something wrong with him, same with Sasuke. When I confronted him about it, he reverted to his original form and attacked. I lost the fight and Naruko tried to get me out of danger while Sasuke engaged him. Sasuke was also defeated and the man stated his plan to kill us, starting with me when Iruka-sensei came. There was no conversation about how me and that man were related." she intoned with a steely look in her eye. Taking a shaky breath, the flame flickered out of existence as she released the technique, the glazed look disappearing from her audience's eyes.

"Kurai, are you alright?"

The reply was a shaky smile as the girl collapsed.

_End Flash back no Jutsu_

The Uchiha just continued to glare at her, "and why do I have two separate memories of the fight then?"

Both females looked at the boy with surprise,

"Teme, you actually remember what happened?" asked a shocked Naruko at the same time as Kurai asked, "You have two separate memories?"

Slightly uncomfortable under their scrutiny, Sasuke could only nod as he figited slightly.

Ignoring her slack jawed friend, the dark hair girl frowned in confusion.

"Well, the technique is really more of a hypnotism that is tricks the mind into remembering something slightly different than what actually happened, rather then a genjutsu which is a complete illusion. It sort of takes a memory then either emphasises certain parts or blurs other parts, sometimes both. Although it has been proven to not really work on people who are experienced with dealing with or casting illusions..." she trailed off as realization hit her, "oh, it's most likely because you have a mature Sharingan which has a specialty in casting and seeing through illusions. Your mind probably recognises the hypnotism as a type of illusion and recorded it separately leading to two memories."

There was a thump as Naruko fell on the floor, eyes swirling with confusion.

"Dobe." was all he had to say.

"Agreed." the other girl sighed, "I often wonder how she is capable of producing seals of high complexity if she is incapable of understanding something like this."

"Hn"

Rolling her eyes at his reply, Kurai reached for the glass of water that was convieniently on the bed side table.

"So what did he want in the first place?" asked the blonde as she recovered, plonking back into her original seat.

Pausing in mid sip, the Uchiha watched in surprise as her gazed darkened with anger, fingers tightening around the glass and her face twisting into a feral snarl.

_The girl was a sadistic tomboy yes, but this level of hate was different to what she normally showed. It was almost similar to what he felt towards **him**._

"That prejudiced son of a bitch always thought of me as trash." she spat, "so long story short he hates me and wants to kill me."

Naruko was uncharacteristically quite, lips pressed together tightly, eyes a mixture of concern and dislike. Sasuke continued to stare at the centre of the whole mess, silently demanding her to explain, or at least give him something to work with.

Eyes flickering briefly over to him, Kurai smiled sardonically.

"I'm not actually an orphan," she stated, making him frown at the revelation, "I got kicked out of my blood related family, I believe the term is disowned."

Frown deepening, the boy cast his thoughts back over the years to the various pieces of gossip that he had heard over the years. "I hadn't heard, normally something like this would be all over the village."

"The Ayakashi Clan is quiet insular. People know it exists to some extent, although I can safely say from today's reactions not everyone does know, but no one really remembers it. I suspect a hell lotta suggestions and the fact that the Ayakashi Clan isn't actually a major Clan of Konoha. Not to mention very few become ninja."

"WHAT?" came the blonde's yelp of shock.

A teasing grin appeared on her face, making the dark haired girl seem more normal than she had in days, as she replied, "Yup, the Ayakashi's number nearly up to 300 and still don't have much say in anything."

Completely and utterly stumped, the girl continued spluttering and muttering to her self as she tried to sort it out. On the other hand, her friend simply turned to him to explain, knowing the question was playing on his mind, "The Ayakashi's are in possession of a kekkei genkei that physically changes their appearance when they come of age, as these features generally make them resemble 'demons' or youkai, they have been relatively ostracized by other shinobi and civilian villages for that. Ended up settling in Konoha because they were the least prejudiced, but they have no obligation to fight for Konoha. Don't ask how that works 'cause I was never told. That's why not many people know that I was actually disowned, most thinking I was just another orphan who crawled out of the wood work."

Here she shrugged, sipping her water daintily like a high class lady, a quirk that had always been there but something he had never really noticed until now. If he thought about it a little more, Kurai actually had many mannerisms that were more suited to a high born gentlewoman than a lowly orphan, her ability to make small talk out of anything, the polite, frosty smiles that she pulled out of nowhere as she placated an irate shopkeeper, her tendency to walk three paces behind him or any person of higher rank than her, habits that were most likely drilled into any young noblewoman from the moment they could walk and talk.

"Why were you disowned?"

The question was out there before he could even control his tongue, mentally cursing himself for dredging up what most likely was an unhappy memory.

"Because if my blood" came the answer. Sasuke could only blink in surprise at her blasé attitude towards the situation.

"My matriarchal line had a history of insanity. Majority of females born went insane after a couple of years they came of age." Kurai explained blandly as if she were discussing the weather, "After my kaa-san truly went off the deep end when I was four, they decided it was too risky to still have me around and disowned me. Of course, as a male my brother was exempt as insanity never affected the male line."

"Stupid sexist morons," chimed in Naru who seemingly had gotten over her shock, "it's their entire fault and they refused to acknowledge it. Hey, why haven't the nurses turned up yet?"

"Because they know that if they tried to fuss over me they'll be in hospital with ruptured internal organs. Remember the last time that one guy tried, I think he was in hospital for three weeks after I pulverized his insides."

As the two began discussing some other topic, he tried to absorb the new information.

_She was like him, not quiet the same but similar enough. But why didn't she seek revenge? It was her right._

* * *

"He wants me to fail?" asked the blonde incredulously as her two friends half lounged in the background, waiting for her so they could start training again.

The Hokage had sent some member of the ANBU to the training field they had underhandedly claimed from under Team Gai's nose. (It involved fooling Gai into thinking his eternal rival wanting to challenge him, Lee into following him and telling Tenten that Neji had dissed her ability to wield various weapons again. It actually was so easy it was somewhat pathetic.)

"Yes," chirped the cat masked assassin a little too cheerfully for someone in that particular line of work, "Said something about one of the teacher's possibly being a traitor and he wants you to help obtain evidence."

Naruko looked very unimpressed by the offer, "Lady, I failed the first time because I couldn't do a bushin, the second one cause I wanted to graduate at the same time as Kurai and Teme. Now you're telling me to deliberately fail the third time so you can catch some moron whom you could probably warrant an arrest for using the excuse of mental check up? No dice Neko-chan, no dice."

Later, all three of the genin-to-be's would swear that the mouth on the cat masked actually widened into a triumphant grin.

"He said you would be paid for a B class mission and guaranteed promotion to genin upon completion."

"I'LL DO IT! RAMEN HERE I COME!"

Behind her, both of her dark haired friends sighed with exasperation.

* * *

"There's no point in hiding it…I'll tell you the truth."

Mizuki's words hung ominously in the as he looked down upon a rather battered Naruko and Iruka.

The man had come to her offering an alternate way to graduate after she had 'flunked' the bushin part of the test. Sure enough, it involved something treasonous and after a quick discussion with Kurai, Sasuke and the Hokage they had pretty much cooked up a plan that would at least get the man arrested for 'tricking an innocent into committing a crime' where the T&I department could then rip into the man's mind and bring up the evidence that he was a traitor. But of all the things they forgot, they had to forget Iruka's uncanny ability to find Naruko no matter _where_ she was.

Iruka paled as he realized what Mizuki was about to do.

"N-NO! DON'T!"

The Shinobi continued as if nothing had been said.

"12 years ago…you know about the demon fox being sealed right?" here his cruel smirk grew, "Since that incident a new law was created for this village."

Confused and apprehensive, the blonde girl murmured, "A law?"

"But Naruko, this rule was never meant to be told to you."

"Not to me? What is this rule? Why?" she demanded confusedly.

In reply, the man chuckled nastily.

"What…kind of rule is it?"

Looking at her straight in the eye, malicious intent flooding his expression, Mizuki told her.

"The rule is that nobody is allowed to talk to you about the fact that you are the demon fox."

Instead of looking floored, shocked, confused or any other emotion that would normally be associated with finding out some great secret, the Jinchuriki simply flicked one long pig tail over her shoulder and politely covered a yawn with her other hand.

"Oh you mean the fact fuzzball was sealed into my stomach? That's old news, I found out a couple of years ago in fact, I just didn't realize there was a law." She stated airily as she clasped her hands behind her back, looking like a somewhat innocent and slightly inquisitive child.

On the other, the academy teachers were shocked. The one person who wasn't supposed to know where the Kyuubi had been sealed had already somehow found out, not to mention was treating it like it was an everyday occurrence.

"You…knew?" choked out Iruka.

Turning her brilliant blue eyes to him, the girl grinned cheerfully.

"Of course I knew! Kurai is absolutely amazing at things involving chakra, it was because she sensed the overgrown furballs chakra that we found out, and we even met the fuzzball for a nice long discussion about stuff thanks to Teme's Sharingan!"

Jumping lightly out of the way of the fuma shurikan aimed at her, Naruko returned her attention to the other academy teacher.

"No, no, NO!" she tutted, "You're a chunin right? You should be more aware of your surroundings!"

Incensed, the man prepared to release a volley of kunai, only to be knocked out by a well aimed senbon.

"Is this guy seriously Chunin level?" asked Kurai as she stepped out of the shadows twirling a second senbon.

The Uchiha appeared right next to the prone body of the fallen teacher, unraveling a length of ninja wire in preparation of tying him up, "Hn, apparently so."

From his position, Iruka gaped at the three discussing his former friend's competence. He promptly decided that he had to be dreaming as there was no way three freshly graduated genin – well two and one who was still technically an academy student – just took out a chunin level ninja.

It was not possible.

But apparently it was. The pain he felt from his brief not quiet scuffle with Mizuki was definitely real, the way Naruko and the Uchiha heir suddenly went from tolerating each other to attempting to rip the others throat out and the fact ANBU members were also emerging from the shadows were also signs that it had happened. Watching dazedly, the teacher let himself be healed up by one of the medics who had also turned up as the third member of the group punched both arguing parties in the head and proceeded to berate the two, her own hands lighting up with healing chakra to patch them up.

"Amazing aren't they?"

Looking up in surprise at the voice that was unmistakably the Hokage's, the man blinked in surprise at the somewhat wistful look on the man's face.

"The three found each other and formed bonds," the elderly ninja explained, "at the heart of these bonds is their Will of Fire. What their Will is something I don't know, but what ever it is, it makes them strong."

* * *

Somewhat shorter than my other chapters but I thought it was a good place to end the chapter. I still get the giggles at Naruko's reaction when Mizuki tells her this 'big' secret.

Just to clear a couple of things up:

I got a review saying they thought Kurai was an ANBU. Sorry to say, she ain't. Long story short, it's got to do with her family background. As for what part…that'll come later. Don't worry, you'll find out, just not now.

Thank you once again to all those people who read my story and liked it, pressing the now big blue button below will be very much appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

Oh the love~ Thank you for reading Let Me, I'm actually somewhat surprised by the number of people who read it, not to mention favourited it or are following it. Once again, THANK YOU! Now I'm not gonna bore you all with that apology crap, but sorry for the late update anyways.

Edit: 20/10/2012

Disclaimer: This one owns not Naruto, otherwise this one would have been a genius for drawing manga when she was 5. Or something like that…when was Naruto started anyway?

* * *

"OI TEME! WAKE UP!"

Startled out of his sleep, the last loyal Uchiha immediately rolled out of bed, kunai in hand as he searched for the source of disruption and - most likely - threat. Although all he saw was a grinning whiskered blond whose hitate positively gleamed under the morning light.

Scowling, Sasuke replaced the kunai under his pillow hoping to incinerate the girl with his glare.

"Oh come off it you duck haired bastard, at least I didn't choose a more creative method." Naruko sang as she flounced out of his room.

Rolling his eyes as he dressed in something more suitable for the day, the boy briefly entertained the idea of trapping all the entrances to his room before dismissing it. The last time he tried didn't work, the time before that didn't either. Not to mention all the times before those attempts. Each and every time the blonde, and sometimes her dark haired friend, bypassed the traps before rigging it so that he was somehow caught in it instead when he tried to exit his room. Sasuke steadfastly believed it was the fault of all the ANBU level traps they had encountered when pranking ANBU HQ.

(At this point he conveniently ignored the fact that he himself was involved in many of those pranks and sub-consciously buried the thought that he just didn't have the gift for traps that Naruko had.)

Going through his morning routine, the Uchiha eventually entered the kitchen where Kurai was flipping pancakes and Naruko was setting the table. All in all a rather normal morning at the household. He wasn't quiet sure how it happened, but at some point in time the other two had moved into his house. Then again, he didn't really care, there were an awful lot of spare rooms and as long as they didn't destroy any of the property or were too loud he was fine with it.

_Of course it had nothing to do with the fact that he could still see the blood and bodies when the house was silent._

"Morning Sasuke," greeted his other house mate as she set several stacks of pancakes on the table, "think we'll be on the same team?"

Sasuke couldn't help but scoff, "If we're not then all this work would've been for nothing. But you already know the answer to that don't you?"

Flicking an amused glance over in his direction as she accepted the coffee he had prepared, Kurai answered sweetly, "What on earth gave you that idea? And I don't actually."

"Oh come on!" exclaimed Naruko as she claimed the final plate of pancakes at the table, "You practically know everything that happens in Konoha! Even if I don't know how and I certainly _don't _want to know how, I know you have the team listings already."

The answer was a smirk and a flourish as she revealed the folder containing team listings for this round of academy graduates.

Grabbing the papers gleefully, both Naruko and Sasuke greedily searched for their names, only to blanch when they found it.

"So guys, we're not on the same team?" asked a confused Kurai, "I didn't get a chance to check seeing as I got it half way through making breakfast."

Silently, the others handed the papers back to the other girl before gloomily murmuring 'iktsudakimasu' and robotically eating their food.

Concerned by her friends reaction, the dark haired girl skimmed through the listings only to blanch as well when she found what the others had seen.

"Oh crap"

* * *

Shikamaru was sitting at the back of the class room as usual. Chouji was sitting next to him munching on his crisps as usual. People were filing in slowly into classroom as usual, moving to chit chat in the usual groups in their usual seats.

But what was unusual and bothering the shadow user was the fact an irritated looking Uchiha, a murderous looking Uzumaki and a rather feral looking Tsukikage were sitting together, heads bent over something as they discussed something just out of his hearing range.

It was puzzling to see the three together, and when Shikamaru was puzzled, he usually tried to work it out. In this instance though, he seemed to be missing a very important piece of the puzzle that would lead him to the solution.

Bah, how troublesome.

Suddenly the door flew open with a bang as the troublesome Uchiha fangirls no. 1 and no. 2 barged into the classroom in an attempt to beat each other to the desk their prized Uchiha was sitting at.

"HAH! I beat you Ino-pig!" screeched the pink-haired (seriously pink? That was such a troublesome colour, especially for a Shinobi) one.

"Obviously I beat you Forehead," sneered the platinum blonde.

"WHY YOU!" And cue the usual battle for the seat next to Sasuke, never mind it was currently occupied by someone else.

Eventually, the Pinkette won the battle. Barging past Tsukikage and stopping beside the seat that the sunshine blonde was currently occupying, the girl smiled in a way she obviously thought was flirty - or seductive, it was kind of hard to tell - , battering her eyes.

"Sasuke, may I sit next to you?" the aptly named Sakura – who was definitely as pink and flowery as her name - trilled as she attempted to literally blow Sasuke away with her rapidly fluttering eyelashes.

The object of her affection merely looked at the girl coldly before looking pointedly at the occupied seat and turning away in clear disinterest, not even deigning to acknowledge her by speaking.

Mistaking the dismissal as approval, the pink haired banshee squealed in ear piercing delight before turning a hateful glare upon the seated blonde.

"Move it Naruko, that's my seat! And this class is for people who actually graduated, not wannabes who steal other people hitate's"

Looking completely unimpressed, the subject of Sakura's ire merely slouched further in her seat and propped her feet on the desk in front of her.

"Sorry Pinky, it appears that I was here first. I do believe you need to get your eyes checked," she drawled tapping the hitate on her forehead, "after all, I did pass as you can see here. Do you really think any genuine ninja would let their hitate be stolen?"

Trembling in anger, the pinkette made to forcefully remove the blonde from the chair.

"Oi Haruno, shut up and find another seat. Only you care if you sit next to the object of your obsession or not, so shove it." snapped Kurai, "If you don't in the next five seconds, I'm tempted to commit treason and remove you from this plane of existence."

Nodding in agreement, Naruko shifted so she could stare directly into Sasuke's face.

"I don't get it anyway, what's so good about this broody teme to make girls go all gaga over him?"

Suddenly Shikamaru had a feeling of foreboding.

Looking around, he noted a mild scuffle had broken out on the other side of the room, several objects sent flying. Idly his eyes followed the path of a book that hit a certain blonde on the head, the force behind it pushing the girl's face forwards to lip lock with a certain Uchiha. The class fell silent for a moment in shock.

So that was the troublesome foreboding feeling.

Pulling away and recovering first, the Uchiha smirked at the frozen blonde as her amused friend restrained the homocidal pinkette behind her.

"If you wanted a kiss Dobe, all you had to do was ask."

That broke the shocked state that Naruko was in. Scrubbing her lips furiously with the sleeve of her jacket, the girl appeared absolutely revolted by what had occurred.

"Dammit! Who would want to kiss you Teme!"

"Obviously you, Dobe."

"NO I DON'T YOU DAMN TEME!"

By this time, Kurai had collapsed in laughter as the homocidal Uchiha fan girls gathered around them.

Luckily, the murder of a one Uzumaki Naruko was averted as Iruka-sensei entered the classroom demanding order.

Troublesome.

* * *

Sakura was excited. But annoyed. That blonde bint stole her Sasuke-kun's first kiss!

Silently stewing at the unfairness of it all, she nearly missed the reading of the teams.

"...Now seeing as there is an uneven number of graduates this year, team seven will be made of four members instead of the usual three. Uzumaki Naruko, Tsukikage Kurai, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, your instructor is Hatake Kakashi..."

What! She was stuck with that useless blonde bint?

Slamming her hands down on the table, the pinkette objected, loudly.

"Why do I have to have that blonde idiot on my team!?"

"Why does that damn Uchiha have all females on his team!"

Tsukikage she could live with seeing as she wasn't after her Sasuke-kun, and her Sasuke-kun was perfect in every way, so why was she stuck with that useless blonde? That girl couldn't even land a hit half the time! And Kiba was right, oh the competition she would have for her Sasuke-kun's attention!

"Sakura, Kiba, sit down! In case you didn't know, team seven is usually composed of the rookie of the year, the top kunoichi and the lowest scoring of the class. Seeing as this year has two rookies of the year we have decided to create a four man team instead with both rookies on the same team. It just so happened that both Kurai and Sasuke had the same scores and that both Naruko and Sakura are female. There is no other particular reason!"

There are was a mild coughing fit from both Naruko and Kurai, although if one was perceptive enough - or Sasuke obsessed enough - they would feel the waves of amusement rolling off the Uchiha.

Well it was obvious who the two rookies were as well as who the weakest one was. At least she was the kunoichi of the year, which would hopefully bring her Sasuke-kun's attention back to her.

'Of course he will Cha! He is our's Cha!'

Before she knew it, they had been dismissed for lunch with a reminder to return at 1. Turning to her Sasuke-kun with a what she knew to be a seductive smile - not that she needed it, but it was to encourage Sasuke-kun to hurry up and take her out for a date - she was about to invite to go and get lunch with her - which he would obviously accept now that they were officially genin and on the sdame team.

Only to find someone else had beaten her to the punch.

"So Sasuke, think we should eat out or head back to make something?"

"Eat at Ichiruka's of course! How many times do I have to say it? Ramen is the food of the gods!"

Rolling his eyes at the typical Naruko reaction, the boy added, "And orange is the colour of the gods, plants are the most importent thing in the world and I am the biggest Teme you know. I think we got it the first hundred times. Just for that I vote we head back home to cook lunch."

"What! No, Sasuke, you meanie! Rai-chan, help me change his mind!"

"Not a chance Naru-chan, now you remember to be good and help Suke-chan with the veggies." The other female smirked ignoring the glare from 'Suke-chan', then turned to the practically frozen pinkette she added, "I suppose we should invite you too Haruno, might as well get to know the final member."

Confused by the turn of events, the girl could only accept numbly.

"Cool," Kurai replied before grabbing the other two who had been glaring at each other by the ears and dragging them towards the door, "now let us go children, otherwise I will send you to the naughty corner again."

'How dare she treat our Sasuke-kun like that Cha!' Hissed inner Sakura angrily.

Mentally nodding in agreement, Sakura followed the trio out.

* * *

"Welcome to the Uchi-maki-kage household, named aptly after the three occupants of this house." drawled Naruko sarcastically as she kicked off her sandals, only to receive a thwack on the head, "OW!"

"Behave Naru" murmured Kurai as she drifted past the blonde, the raised hand the only sign she had hit the other girl.

Sakura continued to move on autopilot as she tried to take in the newest influx of information.

What ever she had been expecting, this was definitely not it. Through out her time in academy, Sasuke-kun and Naruko-baka always had a rather prickly relationship with each other, actually there had been no relationship between the two. Naruko had constantly picking fights with the raven, regularly getting into fights with her perfect Sasuke-kun that she lost. Kurai had regularly been on the sidelines watching, occasionally breaking up the arguments and on a general basis siding with Naruko - which honestly was not that surprising seeing as the two were very good friends. Either way, the fact that the three were a tight knit group of friends that were living together somehow didn't seem to fit the picture.

On the other hand, inner Sakura was throwing a fit, 'It's not fair Cha! They managed to get closer to Sasuke-kun before us Cha!'

"Oi Haruno, do you have a preference of what you want to eat?"

Her Sasuke-kun asking her for her opinion! Inner Sakura squealed in delight, maybe this was her chance to get closer to the man of her dreams!

"I'll have what ever you're having Sasuke-kun!" She said sweetly.

The boy looked at her strangely before continuing with what ever he was doing in the kitchen.

"Kurai, we're having tomato salad."

Said girl snorted as she set a pan on the stove. "Sasuke, we had that last night. I swear, I don't know who has it worse. Naruko's obsession with ramen or you're obsession with tomatoes. If it wasn't for me, I'm pretty sure neither of you would eat anything else."

"I do not have an obsession with tomatoes, I just enjoy them very much."

"Of course Teme, that is why you have at least one tomato a day." Retorted the blonde.

"At least they're good for you, after all, ramen is just salt, flavouring and carbohydrates."

"Like tomatoes are much better, protein and carbs Suke-chan, proteins and carbs."

Wide-eyed with surprise, the pinkette watched as the two descended into an intelligent verbal spar as they cooked. Naruko who failed 90% of tests, of all people was have an _intelligent _verbal spar.

It was surprisingly homely scene.

Rolling her eyes, Kurai turned back to her portion of her cooking, "So Haruno, what's your favourite area of study?"

Pulled out of her thoughts, the girl answered with a rather intelligent "huh?"

"You know, taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu? I personally prefer taijutsu or weapons although I can pull off a mean genjutsu." explained the dark-haired girl as she deftly sliced the vegetables, "you? And can you wash the greens?"

"S-sure," Sakura murmured moving to join the three in the kitchen, "Um, I don't really have a favourite, but I'm really good at theory."

"Just theory?"

"Um, yeah."

"I see." Somehow the pinkette felt like she had failed some sort of examination, "so you have an escort mission to Suna, you are ambushed by enemy nins while travelling through the desert, you have been fighting for a while already and and low on chakra and weapons. What do you do?"

"Retreat with the escort and hide until danger has past or you have recovered enough to defeat the enemy." She answered automatically.

"How so? You're in a desert, there is nothing but miles and miles of sand surrounding you and no cover. Any direction you go, the enemy can see you."

Blindsided by the question, Sakura frowned as she thought back to the texts she had read.

"Kage bunshins under henges of you and your escort move off in different directions as bait or a diversion, then bury yourself and your escort under sand or hide under a low level genjutsu hiding scent and appearence." cut in Naruko cheerfully.

"Not that you can cast a genjutsu Naruko." Retorted Sasuke.

"That's what team mates are for dattebayo!"

"Not to mention majority of us can't pull off kage bunshin. Both Sasuke and I can only pull off one at most and we have the largest chakra reserves after you you chakra monster."

"Which is why I would be the one to do it if it happens to us!"

Her two friends could only sigh in fond exasperation.

Sakura on the other hand could only blink. Naruko, the forever hyperactive blonde with the lowest scores in class was actually having a logical argument. It seemed that the Naruko that she had known in academy was totally different to what appeared to be the true Naruko. It was a strange image to reconcile with. Although the true Sasuke-kun was even more perfect that the Sasuke-kun she saw every day at academy. He was even more princely than expected, and she even saw him smile! Well, half smile/smirk, but it was still a smile! As for Tsukikage, she was still the same. Mostly. There was a slight edge to her that definitely wasn't there before.

It was either that or the fact she was cheerfully discussing how the techniques of flower arranging could be carried over into torture and interrogation with the other two.

* * *

Yes, they are somewhat mentally disturbed. But then again, what five year old (or what ever age Sasuke was) wouldn't be if they were forced to grow up before their time? I mean, Naruko was regularly beaten and harassed, Kurai had to witness her mother going off the deep end and getting thrown onto the streets, and Sasuke saw his clan getting murdered. Can it be said that one would still be mentally intact after that?

Man, I feel sorry for Sakura, she's completely out of her depth in these scenes. I don't particularly hate her, but man she is annoying as a fan girl. At least she grew up later? A little? I doubt I would end up bashing her, but she is a handy character to dislike.

Oh well, you all know the drill! R&R and hopefully I'll scrounge up the troublesome motivation to actually put the rest of the troublesome story to paper.

... I just channeled Shikamaru didn't I?

Troublesome.


End file.
